Chopra is also regularly coached by another German Uwe Hohn, the man who once held a world record throw of 104.80 metres (before the javelin was redesigned).

“I’ve been improving steadily, ” Chopra told tribuneindia.com after his Commonwealth Games success.

“For three months, I’d been in Germany, to train there. Working with Werner Daniels in Germany was also very helpful, and I’ve been training and learning from Uwe Hohn also. I’ve learnt a lot from these coaches in the last six months,”

Unconventional entrance

Rather like Rio 2016 silver medallist Julius Yego of Kenya, Chopra had an unconventional route into the world of javelin throwing.

The son of a farmer near the Indian city of Panipat, his first love was cricket.

But after discovering javelin, a new interest began to flourish – although his progress was hampered by a lack of formal coaching.

Instead, Chopra taught himself to throw by watching videos of the great Jan Zelezny on YouTube. Much like Yego had done before him.

Future plans

The Indian will next be in action at the opening IAAF Diamond League meeting of the season in Doha on May 4th.

Then in August, his attention will turn to the Asian Games in Indonesia.

But the big target is to become a genuine world contender in two years time for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

And a chance to launch into Indian sporting immortality.

Share this...

Author:Stephen Hannon

Stephen Hannon is the Head of News at Olympic Channel, the digital platform launched by the IOC.